Oscar Pistorius's murder trial has heard the Olympic star asked a friend to take the blame after he fired a pistol in an upmarket restaurant, grazing the foot of a professional boxer he was eating dinner with.

The incident took place in Johannesburg in January 2013, a month before Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Three days into the athlete's trial, the prosecution called professional boxer Kevin Lerena to testify about one of three charges against Pistorius.

Lerena described how he, Pistorius and two others had been having dinner at Tashas restaurant when the gun went off.

Lerena said one of the group, Darren Fresco, passed his pistol under the table to Pistorius, telling him there was a bullet in the chamber.

Ms Burger, the first witness at the trial, offered dramatic testimony of the incident in which Pistorius shot his girlfriend, saying that on the night she heard a woman's "bloodcurdling screams" followed by four shots.

Mr Roux grilled Ms Burger over the number of gunshots heard, asking why she heard four shots and her husband reported hearing more, to which she responded tersely: "My husband and I are together for 20 years and I know him to be honest."

Regarding Ms Burger, Mr Roux told Mr Johnson: "You discussed the evidence and I will argue to the court it is just too remarkable Charl Johnson told the court he hadn't."